ALBANY, N.Y. — In its first year legalized, mobile sports betting generated $542 million in taxes and an additional $200 million in licensing fees.
Most of that will go to the state's education system.
But $6 million will go to gambling education and treatment, while $5 million will be distributed to youth sports activities.
"What amazed me, what I marveled at was that we did these numbers, these record-setting numbers, one in the national numbers within the first year and with only nine operators," said Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr, chairman of the Senate Committee of Racing, Gaming, and Wagering.
The NYS Gaming Commission's executive director says there have been 3.8 million accounts created and more than 1.2 billion transactions.
That's the good news.
"Here's the bad news. We don't believe this success is sustainable with the current tax rate of 51%. Although it's only been one year since the market launched, there are clear signs the New York market has already peaked whereas other states remain on a solid upward trajectory," said FanDuel president Christian Genetski.
Genetski says there needs to be a more competitive market in the state, especially with the surrounding state offering lower tax rates.
New York has the highest tax rate for mobile sports betting at 51%, while the average across the country is 13%.
If nothing changes, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins says his company will need to make adjustments which include worse odds, no more promotional credits, and cutting down on advertising in stadiums around the state.
"If DraftKings is forced to offer worse odds, and very limited promotions and advertising, it will be extremely challenging for us to compete with the illegal market," Robins said.
"We cannot go back to our constituency and say here's something that's going to reduce revenue as well as educational funds. So that's what a budget process is for," Addabbo said.
Some propose that New York State should consider making igaming, or online gaming, legal to help bring in more revenue.
"Almost every state surrounding internet or online game, I'll call it igaming for this point, has added igaming to its sports betting program," said Howard Glaser, global head of government affairs for Light and Wonder.
"Together those markets in 2022 just from those three states, grew 51 percent in total. That's growth you can hardly find anywhere else."
The Senate Committee of Racing, Gaming, and Wagering, and the Assembly Committee of Racing and Wagering will have a roundtable in the future on igaming, but didn't give an exact date.
Officials added that more young people are getting into mobile sports betting.
Even though you are required to provide your social security number, or driver's license number to create an account, 58 underage accounts were created last year.
Officials say all of them have since been closed.